As consumption habits drift towards healthier choices, growth in alcohol and soda is declining.
Functional sodas now hold 6% of total beverage market share but are driving 27% of category growth. Alcohol’s own numbers tell the same story: volumes are down for the third year running, with no-alcohol as basically the only category still growing. New high-protein sodas and beers are now hitting the market.
The better-for-you transition is more than a niche: it is where the volume is going. The challenge for brands isn’t to sell more, but to stay relevant.
Where some see risk, others see opportunity. Brewers already run precision bioprocess facilities. Controlled fermentation, sterile handling, yield optimization, downstream separation: these skills are as valuable in biomanufacturing as they are in brewing.
Precision fermentation, producing functional proteins by programming microorganisms to express them, runs on exactly this infrastructure logic. The capital barrier to entry is meaningfully lower for a brewer than for almost anyone else considering this space.
And the application that sits right at the intersection of both trends is BLG, beta-lactoglobulin. The winning whey protein with a superior leucine response and amino acid profile, with ever growing demand in overall foods and specialized nutrition.
Unlike whey (even high purity WPI), BLG is fully water-soluble. No chalky texture, no cloudiness, no compromise on taste. A high-protein soda that actually drinks like a soda. Fresh, clean, juicy. That format does not exist yet at scale, and it does not work without the right protein.
Our world-leading technology enables production at scale, and cost-parity with WPI. Brewers, in our view, are among the most natural partners for where this is heading. Connect with our team to know more.
